Bag a Barra — 16 August 2024

It's time to head to the top N and Bag a Barra. With Glenn Watty Watts, Thanks to Shimano. Remember to buy local and fish local. visit shamanofish.com.au.

And, of course, what is the man behind, Barefoot Fishing Safaris, and, of course, angling adventures. He's had one hell of a week. And he was very excited over the last few days because, well, he's been hanging around with me. Woddy?

Hello? Good at that, aren't you? Yeah, you go, mate. I think I've come down from the high.

Thanks again. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I reckon you went... Thank God. He's gone.

Oh, no, we had a good time that day, didn't we? And it was good having a couple of beers at the noonie the night before or whatever that was as well. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

And then maybe we had a couple of corrobory Billabong. The fish weren't all that hungry, but we still had a pretty good time, didn't it? It was funny, Watty, because I posted something on social media and I copped a couple of comments. Was I on time?

Yeah, right, oh, there you go. Well, it's good to see people listening to the narrative and you definitely were on time, so that's good. Everyone's learning that. I didn't have much to spare that. But I was right on time, which was pretty good.

But it was good, mate. And we've certainly thank you for your hospitality. We went out to corroborating my favourite spot. And although the fish weren't all that hungry, geez, corroborate turned it on for us, didn't it, with you filming out there with Gavin, we got Buffalo and everything out there thrown into the mix.

Yeah, that's right, mate. And I suppose that's the beauty of destination light corroborate is that even if the fishing is a bit slow, you still get sort of the rest of it all wrapped up into a nice little package, they're pretty close to town. So, yeah, we had plenty of buffaloes there, and of course, um, you know, countless crocodiles and all the birds and all that sort of stuff, plus that spectacular sunrise with a bit of fog and smoke from the fires. So yeah, that'll come up pretty good.

Another place, Wadi, that you've been telling me to go to for a long time, and we finally got out there was Dundee Beach, and that's where you are now, but I'll tell you what, mate, I'm glad I copped the tip. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, it's, uh, it's sort of, unless you're sort of in the fishing game. You probably never really heard of it too much, but yeah, brand new pub out there and there's probably no better place to watch a sunset in that area than on the bar of that brand new park.

Unbelievable. We actually, and we're going to talk to paper from that pub a little bit later on, but unbelievable, mate. You talk about the fish. I guess for people that are putting their boats in there.

There was a stack of people coming in while we were there because we got there, we wanted to film late in the day for light reasons and sunsets and stuff. But I guess when they put their boat and take off from there, they their spots. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, I mean, that's that's the team or C right there.

Open ocean and and you know, as far as you can go, you can go sort of thing. You can head down to the, I suppose, the left of the boat rim. Down towards um the Daly River, and then further on, right through into the Kimberley, if you've got that much fuel, and and if you go back around to the right, up to the sort of the north and the east, that'll get you to buy no harbour, and then back into Darwin Harbour. Yeah, it's probably, it's the, I believe it's the 2nd most popular boat ramp in the northern territory, um, only to the one right in the city of Darwin.

So yeah, there's a lot of traffic in and out of there in a day. Yeah, no incredible. And then obviously we filmed and then over to the pub and that that new tavern, unbelievable place, the way that... how you basically everybody's just outside undercover, and then you get that that sun, that sunset, the whole, the, the whole sky just turned orange.

just amazing. Yeah, that's right. It's a, it's always been a really popular place and and having the new tavern and especially the Caribbean park there, supporting it with some really good facilities these days. Really brings Dundee right up to the front of the, of anyone's sort of bucket list trips in the territory.

I think it, and it really is a great launching place to do all your blue water fishing, but also your barrow fishing, in Bynoe Harbour, like what, what, what we're here for, um, lining up for 3 days of that starting again tomorrow. So are you staying there, Watty? Yeah, that's right. I've actually got a caravan at a mate's joint down the road a bit, but I got the clients in the 2 bedroom cabins there.

And of course, I've got an account with Pug, so they just go and rack everything up and it's super... Oh, hang on, tell me now. Hang on, hang on. You got a what?

You could have told me how to count at the pub earlier. I made sure he had that one turned off when you were there actually. Mate, you didn't notice you had an account at the pub when we were there. I must work her on Watty's tab, mate.

All good. That's all right. Yeah, yeah. Well, there might be a bit of that now.

It might be a silly thing to say, but um, yeah, there's half a dozen boat ramps within a 20 minute drive of Dundee Beach as well. So, you know, into Bynoe Harbour as well as the, the freshwater side of the fitness river and um, so it's a, it's a really great place to base and um, yeah, and you can uh, sort of plan your fishing around your tides and weather conditions accordingly straight from there. Yeah, I saw all the signs driving out there to boat ramps and thought, well, where do they, you know, like, so, uh, we noticed that, that there are a lot of um, boat ramps. What about Dundee Beach itself?

Many people live out there? Oh, resident population just to support the local, I suppose, fishing charter, industry and the pub and caravan park, not too many. There wouldn't be more than an 150 people. There's a primary school there you would have seen.

And, and of course, post office. As a butcher shop, there's a social club as well. It's sort of open on the weekends and they have tribia nights and roast days on Sundays and all sorts of things. So, it's a pretty active little community and and a place that I really, uh, have spent a lot of time that, of course, in the last, I suppose, 15 years and and yeah, I love coming down and and rolling into the pub and catching up with a few mates that I've made down there over the years, it's a really welcoming and warm place. Yeah, no absolutely.

Some of the photos, especially that it were taken during the wet, with some of the storms rolling, you know, sensational, I got up on the wall there. How'd you go today, mate? Did you catch more than what we caught the other day or? Well, we did, actually.

We actually travelled from all the way from Kakadu this afternoon, uh after a morning session, uh fishing in home and Mardigal Billabongs, was just out the back of Kwinder Lodge, and we got stuck into plenty of Saratoga and Barramundi there in the Billabong, pissed through until 11, and then, yeah, it's about a 4.5 hour drive out here to Dundee. So boys got a bit of a break and then we'll line up here for our saltwater bar fishing and perhaps a bit of blue water, tuna, and um, and pelagic stuff if, if the winds are right for us for the next 3 days. So, yeah, it's, it actually is a really good trip, this one, 6 days, and you get a really good taste of the best of everything. Sounds fantastic, mate.

All right. Well, well done. Mate, thanks again for your hospitality, mate. the other day.

We certainly did enjoy it. And um, it was good to see you and uh, and, you know, go, have a fish and get out on corroboration as well as a couple of beers and a couple of different pubs. It was good, mate. Obviously, we'll do that again as soon as we can.

But in the meantime, mate, we'll let you get to look, get, put some, uh, some miles on that account you got at the pub there and we'll talk to you next week if we can find you. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, next week should be fine. We'll be back at home organising everyone else's fishing trips and I did get a bit of a feeling when you were messaging me when you rocked up out the Dundee that next trip up here might be a bit longer and you might even base out there for a week or 2 I reckon by the sound of it.

Oh, 100%, mate. Yeah, for sure. I'd have to tell Mrs. Duck. She was pretty keen to stay there as well.

Yeah, that's right. Well, beautiful spot. I mean, and, you know, the new Caribbean Park with the uh, unreal camp kitchen and and a couple of swimming pools there and um, playgrounds and stuff being built more and more additions to the, um, to the pub and and caravan park. It's just going to get better and better.

Um, the new owners have got some real go in them and, and they're good people to boot, so it, it's all good down here at Dundee, mate. Yeah, absolutely mate. was a new favourite spot of ours, that's for sure. All right, mate.

We'll let you get stuck into it and get back to what you're doing and we'll talk to you next week. Right, yeah. Good on you. Have a good week.

You too. There he is. That's our man, Watty, Barefoot Fishing Safaris, and of course, angling adventures, and we'll talk to him a little bit more about angling adventures next week because he was telling me some exciting stuff, and some of the trips where he's sending people to go fishing. Ah, different places around the world.

Just unbelievable. So we'll have a chat to him about that next week. And if you're into that, well, you need to pay up, uh, listen up because, uh, what he can certainly send you on a fishing adventure like no other, and uh, not just in the northern territory, but world beyond that, and we had, and I knew about it, and I knew some of the stuff he did, but not to the extent.